Katsushika Hokusai's depiction of ukiyo-e, the floating world, has a humble beginning as a plebeian skill during the Edo era (1603 - 1867). Over time, his works have achieved international acclaim, crossing boundaries of nationalities and periodic styles. It was here in Obuse, a town in Nagano Prefecture, that this man who is now known as a cultural giant produced masterpieces of his final years.

During his lifetime which began in 1760 in Honjo, Edo and ended in 1849 in Asakusa, Edo, Hokusai produced countless works of invaluable art. His exceptional talent first came to light in his late 30's with a series of bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) under pseudonyms of Sori and Hokusai Tokimasa.

In his 40's and 50's, Hokusai's sensational innovations were reflected in his illustrations for yomihon and pictures for edehon books. His masterpiece FUGAKU SANJUROKKEI Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji is a work from his 70's which gave way to a new genre of landscape prints for the art of ukiyo-e.

In his later years, Hokusai began to ignore the support of publishing critics and focused his individuality through brush painting. And with the help of his friend Takai Kozan, a tycoon in Obuse, Hokusai successfully completed his most celebrated works, massive ceiling pieces.

Hokusai Museum was established in 1976 to maintain the condition of valuable brush paintings and ceiling works attached to two festival floats. The museum building which underwent expansion and renovation in 1991 now displays Hokusai's works featuring brush paintings and book illustrations.http://www.book-navi.com/hokusai/guide-e.html

Here we got him
百二十畳敷の大紙に、藁を束ねた特大の筆で大達磨を描くというイベントが、二百年ほど前の名古屋で行われた。立役者は、たまたま名古屋に寄宿していた浮世絵師の葛飾北斎。このセンセーショナルな見せ物の逐一を綴ったのが、この絵本である。この絵本の細密さには北斎も感心して、著者猿猴庵に芋の絵を贈っている。
A scene of Hokusai painting a large Daruma (of the size of 120 tatami mats)!

Hokusai (1760-1849)Hokusai, Japan's best known artist, is ironically Japan's least Japanese artist. Japan's best known woodblock painting, The Great Wave, is very un-Japanese. Welcome to the artist often known as Hokusai.

Hokusai (1760-1849) lived during the Tokugawa period (1600 to 1867). In a Japan of traditional Confucian values and feudal regimentation, Hokusai was a thoroughly Bohemian artist: cocky, quarrelsome, restless, aggressive, and sensational. He fought with his teachers and was often thrown out of art schools. As a stubborn artistic genius, he was single-mindedly obsessed with art. Hokusai left over 30,000 works, including silk paintings, woodblock prints, picture books, manga, travel illustrations, erotic illustrations, paintings, and sketches.

Some of his paintings were public spectacles which measured over 200 sq. meters (2,000 sq. feet.) He didn't care much for being sensible or social respect; he signed one of his last works as "The Art-Crazy Old Man". In his 89 years, Hokusai changed his name some thirty times (Hokusai wasn't his real name) and lived in at least ninety homes. We laugh and recognize him as an artist, but wait, that's because we see him as a Western artist, long before the West arrived in Japan.

"From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs. but all I have done before the the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself.

At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokosai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing." -- Hokusai

Hokusai started out as a art student of woodblocks and paintings. During the 600-year Shogun period, Japan had sealed itself off from the rest of the world. Contact with Western culture was forbidden. Nevertheless, Hokusai discovered and studied the European copper-plate engravings that were being smuggled into the country. Here he learned about shading, coloring, realism, and landscape perspective. He introduced all of these elements into woodblock and ukiyo-e art and thus revolutionized and invigorated Japanese art.

This profusely illustrated volume presents groundbreaking scholarship on the Ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and his immediate artistic and literary circles. Achieving worldwide renown for his dramatic landscape print series, such as the "Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji", Hokusai also excelled in book illustrations, erotica, and privately commissioned woodcuts called "surimono".

Aspects of the artist’s innovative and novel approach to the graphic arts are discussed in the first half of this volume. Less well known, Hokusai was a highly accomplished painter who oversaw a studio of several close pupils, including his daughter Ôi, who often worked in a style closely resembling his own. The study of Hokusai’s corpus of paintings thus raises many complex issues of authorship, dating and authenticity -- further complicated by the abundant production of forgeries both during and after his lifetime.

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Known locally for its apples and sweet chestnuts, this rural community would likely have remained in wider obscurity were it not for the retirement plans of one of Japan's most famous artists — ukiyo-e (woodblock print) master Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).

Hokusai's masterpieces rank among Japan's most recognizable works of art. His woodblock prints garnered immense acclaim throughout his career, but his fame was assured for posterity with the publication of the captivating series titled, "36 Views of Mount Fuji."

The striking images of a snow-capped Fuji are imprinted in many an ukiyo-e fan's mind; thanks to modern commercialism, they also grace everything from coasters to coffee mugs to canvas bags. And in Obuse, even the manhole covers — decorated with etchings of his famous "Great Wave off Kanagawa" — pay tribute to this acknowledged legend.

Hokusai first came to Obuse near the end of his life, at the behest of his patron, wealthy farmer and salt merchant Takai Kozan. Already in his 80s, the woodblock artist born in Edo (present-day Tokyo) had no intention of slowing down in his twilight years. Instead, in the peace and serenity of the countryside, he devoted himself to brush painting, breaking away from the genre of ukiyo-e to turn out masterpieces in the style of Chinese classical art, such as the striking "Dragon Flying Over Mount Fuji" (1849).

As death approached, he left many of his last works to the town and temples of Obuse. It's a move that has turned the quiet agriculture village into a key stop on the cultural tourist's trail.

Obuse also attracts visitors with its locally grown chestnuts. In shops around town, chestnut products abound, from baked goods and chestnut-themed set lunches to the ubiquitous chestnut-flavored ice cream cones. The sweet smell of roasting chestnuts wafting from the main square tantalizes many a hungry visitor, but if your nose needs a little assistance to track down the local treats, let the chestnut-decorated sidewalks steer you in the right direction. ...On a corner of Obuse's main square, the Hokusai Museum opened in 1972 and houses the town's best collection of the artist's work. Inside, two oversize festival-float panels take pride of place in a first-floor exhibition room. Bold strokes of color blend seamlessly together on the wood, capturing the forms of a dragon, a phoenix and opposing tsunami waves. The panels were designed to adorn the interiors of two grand floats, the Higashi-machi and Kan-machi ones that were used in the town's many shrine festivals. In other rooms, visitors can examine Hokusai's exquisite scroll paintings or marvel at the detail of his early black-and-white ukiyo-e prints. Upstairs, a series of sketches showcasing peasant life rounds out the superb collection.

Outside the museum, a narrow chestnut-inlaid path leads past a group of renovated mustard-hued storehouses to the Takai Kozan Memorial Hall. Named for the art enthusiast who funded Hokusai's Obuse retreats, the manicured grounds of the courtyard contain the tiny studio where Hokusai worked on his final pieces....The storehouse museum also displays drawings by Kozan himself, though the hidden gem of this complex is the attached sake brewery. The Masuichi-Ichimura Brewery, owned by descendants of Takai Kozan, has been producing its popular sake for 254 years. The business is currently managed by an American woman named Sarah Cummings, an arrangement uncommon in the male-dominated realm of sake. Under her direction, the brewery recently switched back to the traditional use of oke barrels (wooden barrels held together with bamboo straps) in their sake production.

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On weekends and in the summer months, a tourist shuttle bus does the rounds of Obuse's major sights, mostly ferrying weary visitors out to Gansho-in Temple, the location of Hokusai's largest painting. I went in the off season, when walking was the only way to get there — but the 2-km hike was worth every step on the way, if only to peek into Obuse's many attractive backyard gardens. In an attempt to boost tourism and attract visitors, local officials have recently implemented the Obuse Open Garden program. More than 90 Obuse homes and businesses have since landscaped and opened their yards to curious visitors. So, if the sign is out and the gate is unlatched, feel free to walk in and enjoy the surroundings.

My half-hour ramble to Gansho-in Temple found me at the base of the region's often snow-covered peaks. Surrounded by vistas of apple orchards, the temple is a peaceful home to Hokusai's Chinese phoenix painting. The work was one of the artist's last, completed when he was 89 years old.

The best view of the phoenix, which glares down at visitors from the temple ceiling, is apparently from flat on one's back, as evidenced by the handful of visitors I spied lying across the room's benches. With a reassuring smile from the temple caretakers, I sprawled out on the tatami mats and gazed toward heaven. A magnificent Chinese phoenix spread its emerald- and tangerine-colored wings across the roof, illuminating the tiny hall. The paint Hokusai used was allegedly mixed with jewels, and the brilliant colors of the mythical bird have yet to fade, a fitting legacy for an artist as highly valued today as he ever was. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fv20090329a1.html

Shita-kiri Suzume (舌切り雀 shita-kiri suzume)"Tongue-Cut Sparrow"is a traditional Japanese fable telling of a kind old man, his avaricious wife and an injured sparrow. The story explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy on the characters.

Illustration by Hokusai!.http://edoflourishing.blogspot.jp/2014/08/nori-starch-glue.html

"Recycling Paper," Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) - Illustration for "The Fulling-block Shell (Kinuta gai)" from the series "A Matching Game with Genroku-period Poem Shells (Genroku kasen kai awase)."- “Awase” (or matching) was a favorite pastime for the Japanese nobility during the Edo period. The game either involved poetry (uta-awase, as this print) or pictures (e-awase). The game consisted in... “comparing” and sometimes “matching” poetry or pictures based on aesthetics. When playing with shells (as this print) one had to “match” or “join” shells (kai-awase), and for that 360 clam shells were used with each baring an image or a poem. Often these shells were kept in elaborate boxes and were part of a lady’s wedding trousseau. See More— at The Library of Congress..https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.207589726029494.42671.207467629375037&type=1.

- quoteUkiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai is one of Japan’s best-known artists. His print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” with its giant blue wave curling over a tiny Mount Fuji, is seen on T-shirts and coffee mugs around the world. Given his multifarious talent, vast energy and long life — Hokusai died in Tokyo (then called Edo) at age 88 in 1849 — I had long thought of him as a Japanese Picasso..Keiichi Hara Japan Times 2015.

• Manga origins. The expression “manga” in Japanese can mean either “comic” and “funny picture” (manga, 漫画 also written as マンガ) or “variety picture” (漫画 also pronounced manga) depending on how the word is written in Chinese characters [“kanji” (漢字) characters as pronounced in Japanese, literally, Han character writing; “kan (漢),” a reference to the Han period of Chinese history, and “ji (字),” written character]. The two “man” sounds spelled in different characters (マン and 漫) are pronounced the same as “man” while the word “ga” (画) means “picture.” This is where an interesting interpolation takes place from the original “Manga” of the 19th century to the modern “manga” of the 20th and 21st century.

• Original meaning of Manga. “Manga” can mean both “comical” picture and “variety” picture. The former is the result of the latter, which originates in the “Manga” (漫画) series of books the ukiyo-e (浮世絵) artist Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎), 1760-1849, put together at the request of his publisher in the early 19th century (北斎漫画). In this case, the expression “manga” means “variety picture,” or it can also suggest “ten thousand pictures,” an indication of many pictures. Hokusai himself used the expression “manga” (漫画), in the introduction to the first volume, explaining his “casual picture drawing,” “sketch,” “free drawing” collection of pictures [漫 (すず)ろに描く, or 漫然といろいろなものを描く].

Hokusai in his long career kept sketches for his ukiyo-e woodblock print designs, which his publisher determined as having a commercial value. As a result, a series of 15-volume bound books with the title of Manga are published containing these Hokusai sketches. Some have comical observations while others are illustrations of heroes, historical characters, mythical beasts and things of nature. Because some sketches are funny, and because the same word “man” can also be spelled with a character “funny, comic,” the notion of contemporary comic books evolved.

Each of the 15 volumes has some 30 bi-folio sheets (one sheet folded into two providing two printed pages). The total page numbers are close to 900 pages (60 bi-folio pages x 15 volumes = 900, or more precisely, 836 pages) for approximately 2600 pictures in all. The first volume came out in 1814, and the last 15th volume was published only in 1878 well after Hokusai had died in 1849..https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/pmjs/lVazjVo7_VM.

The 1000 Mangas byHOKUSAI, Katsushika (1760 - 1849) Visipix.com publishes here the complete15 volumes in facsimile quality.This is a world premiere in the internet.Hokusai's "landscape format pictures" were cut and printed on two adjacent pages as separate "portrait format pictures"..As far as we know, you are now the first persons in history who can enjoy all the full-page mangas the way Hokusai would have liked people to see them.

Visipix.com presents its own new English translation of all texts and titles and the interpretation of many stories told by the pictures.

A complete edition, probably early Meiji period, right after the publication of the 15th volume from Hannes Kellers collection was scanned. The volumes 4 and 5 from another edition were published earlier by visipix, but at that time not in facsimile quality..HEREhttp://www.visipix.com/sites/specials/hokusai/hoku_start.htm.

The ukiyo-e master of the late Edo period, Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), is an artist renowned and loved throughout the world. By studying European art styles entering Japan from the Netherlands via the island of Dejima, Hokusai acquired command of novel art techniques unknown in ukiyo-e and rose to popularity. As an artist who ceaselessly explored daring new directions, he created powerfully imaginative works that revolutionized Japanese art.

In the late 1850s, when Japan ended its seclusion policy and Westerners began visiting the country, many had already seen Hokusai’s works. This owed, above all, to his 15-volume Hokusai Manga collection of block-printed sketches, which was already in use as a source of illustrations for books about Japan. Western visitors purchased Hokusai’s ukiyo-e prints, art manuals, and illustrations as souvenirs and took large quantities of his work back to their countries, where it entered circulation in the local markets. Western interest in Japanese art was hardly limited to Hokusai, yet he enjoyed overwhelming popularity, along with Hiroshige.

Japanese art captured the admiration of Western artists pursuing innovative new styles of expression and, as a result, the "Japonisme" craze was born. Hokusai, among all Japanese artists, most frequently served as a reference for this style. Works of Japonisme sourced in his Hokusai Manga, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji landscape picture book, and Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji woodblock prints appeared in great numbers.

Hokusai’s art had a dramatic impact, first, on the artists of Impressionism such as Monet, Degas, and Cézanne, and later on such Post-Impressionist artists as Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, and Les Nabis. Across the entire Western sphere—Germany, Australia, Spain, England, America, and Eastern and Northern Europe—Hokusai’s methods were explored and researched, and they gave momentum to new creation in painting, print art, sculpture, posters, and the decorative arts.

This exhibition will examine several aspects of Japonisme in 6 sections with the aim of showing how particular characteristics of Hokusai’s art contributed to the development of modern Western art. Some 220 works of Western art and some 40 color woodblock prints and 70 woodblock-printed books will be exhibited. (Some objects may be rotated during the exhibition period. Exhibition lineup may change as circumstances require.)